Posted on 06/14/2006 10:34:13 PM PDT by Pro-Bush
Analysis: France's attitude to terror
London may be convulsed by controversy over police clampdowns on terror suspects, but Charles Bremner, The Times's Paris correspondent, says that the French police take a tougher line without the same public soul-searching
"There is a big difference between the French and British policy and approach to terrorism. The DST, the equivalent to MI5 as well as the police intelligence, keep a very close watch on the housing estates where the majority of the Muslim population live.
"Until last summer the French were very unhappy with what they saw was incompetence by the British. The French thought the British were far too lax towards radical Muslim activities on their territory. Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri was followed by the French investigation service without telling the British because they were so worried by his activities.
"The shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and the apology by police to the brothers wrongly arrested in a raid on their home in East London, in which one of them was shot, will only serve to reinforce the dim view of the British police that the French authorities have.
"Among the French public there is not the same level of popular concern over terrorism in France as there is in Britain. House raids happen very often and do not get the same media coverage that is heaped on them in the UK.
"The case today of 25 Islamic terrorists who have been jailed for planning to attack Paris is considered to be old news. It relates to events which happened in 2002 and has created relatively fuss. Since then there have been countless investigations resulting in the arrests of dozens of suspects.
"This court case that goes back some time and is linked to Algeria-based terrorists, known as GIA, who did carry out attacks in the mid-90s. In this case the defendants were working with the jihadists from al-Qaeda.
"The Paris network, of which the defendants jailed today were part, was created to form a support network for Islamic militants in the war-ravaged Russian republic of Chechnya.
"The threat from the Chechan connection has been known in France for some time, predominantly from warnings by one man, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the judge in charge of the French anti-terrorist operations, who has been very active over the last 15 years in advancing policy towards terrorism."
Ah no. Not tolerant. It's just we're the 'bad' ones, but they don't publicize their own activities.
I will not forget that while the world was chastising us for putting panties on a dudes head(TORTURE!)
The same week French troops opened fire with .30 cal on unarmed protesters in the Ivory Coast and nobody would cover it.
All Nations are created equal. But some are more equal than others.
Donald Rumsfield said: "Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion."
I saw that video, talk about a massacre.
On the other hand, the British are weaklings when it comes to terror on their own soil. In matters of internal security, it is the British that are the French ......wussies.
where did you see it. When I try to put Abu gharib in context, nobody believes me. MSM ignored it so it did not happen
You have it backwards. Remember the riots? The French are wussies.
You also bring up the riots. Well, for one those riots were caused by Islamic youth, but it wasn't exactly terrorism (although they were indeed terrorising their neighborhoods and law-abiding citizenry). Semantics aside it wasn't terrorism perse. As for reactions on the British side, just a few months ago Muslim protestors were walking down British streets with signs saying that they would behead Britons, that Britain was facing their own 9/11, and such stuff (several posters had threads with those pictures). The interesting thing is that those protestors had British police guarding them. Now, I'm sure someone might say that it was all in the name of free-speech, but I'd call that BS. And just this week British cops were apologizing for a raid on a suspect they believe had ties to Jihadists, and the whole thing took on a life of its own. It is ridiculous.
Then there is the whole thing where Chirac threatened to use nukes on any state that harbors terrorists that attack France. Now, I'm the first to admit that a French threat has about the same worth as a bucket of warm spittle, but cowards (especially those with nukes) can do surprising things. And some of the things the French were doing in West Africa just a few years ago (in the guise of 'peace keeping'), or further back when the French sank a GreenPeace ship that was protesting their nuclear testing off Mururua atoll, shows that not all Froggies are afraid of kicking butt (even when it is entirely one-sided). Overall the French are cowardly (no doubt about that), but they are not universal cowards like some on FR try to make them. And in some aspects of anti-terror activities (particularly internal issues) it is the British that take top prize in Wussiedom .....apparently the British analogue of our ACLU would even make our Libs cringe!
My ONLY point of contention is that when it comes to internal security (anti-terror activities directed towards Jihadi linked groups within their borders, and the financing and logistics behind them) that the French are leagues ahead of anyone in Western Europe, and are basically not even on the same planet as the Brits (who, while they have nuts the size of Texas on external issues, are plagued by Political Correctness on internal issues that would even make our ACLU go 'bleh'). That is the only thing I'm saying. As for appeasement to AlQueda and that cow BinLAden in France, well it was just today that there was talk of the largest Islamic funding system in the world being set up in ...you guessed it, Britain .....with ties to certain individuals who will not be receiving invitation cards to the White House anytime soon. Britain is a safe-haven to any Jihadi who manages to get there .....as long as they can get in they are basically in lush-land.
Anyways .....short and long of it is as follows. Externally the British are ...well ....the Brits (and all the positive stuff that goes along with that proud name). Internally though (and this is the crux) they are plagued with political correctness that would have Teddy Kennedy on a diet and Gore taking kissing lessons pronto! IT is almost funny to follow the ridiculous loopholes, apologies, and messups the Brits do on their own soil, and the number of Islamic groups (think blow-you-up Islam) that walk around with total impunity. Then look at how France deals with such people on their own soil.
Anyways, that was all I was saying. Just that one area .....internal security and how the two nations deal with it (which is more or less what this article was also touching on ....how the French simply do not have the same type of hand-wrangling for internal security that they have for everything else).
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